Director, Process Safety; SHE

Director, Process Safety

Location: Gaithersburg, MD or Willmington, DE

Function: Global SHE (Safety, Health & Environment)

As one of the architects of AstraZeneca’s global Process Safety strategy, you will reshape our global safety culture, influence senior executives, and accelerate our transition to pioneering digital, human‑centric, and design‑for‑safety practices. Your work will not only protect people, it will directly enable AstraZeneca’s ability to deliver medicines safely, sustainably, and at scale.

The Global Director of Process Safety will provide visionary leadership and set the global strategy for Process Safety. This highly visible role will lead the transformation and continuous improvement programs that protect colleagues and drive innovation across the company. This role will engage with all levels of the organization influencing executive stakeholders and operational teams alike. The role will work with functional and regional leadership teams to deliver a proactive approach focusing on eliminating risk at the source, implementing robust controls and promoting a strong process safety culture, ensuring leaders understand the difference between occupational safety and process safety and remain focused on low‑frequency, high‑consequence risks.

Through collaboration with a Global team of subject matter experts in safety, health and environment, leveraging premier technology, and data driven insights the role will provide continuous improvement for a safer, more sustainable workplace.

• Enterprise‑wide remit across all AstraZeneca Operations, R&D sites, engineering projects, and commercial environments.
• Authority to set global Process Safety and SIF standards
  , expectations, and minimum technical requirements.
• Strategic decision rights on global policies, frameworks, and risk controls.

• Reports to the Senior Director, Global SHE (Safety, Health & Environment).

• Oversight of cross‑functional working groups, networks, and communities of practice.

• Decision‑making input on capital projects and safety‑critical expenditures.

• A purposeful culture where safety is a strategic priority, not a compliance activity
• Opportunities to influence the organization at the highest levels of the
• Support to innovate, reimagine, and design future‑focused risk‑reduction systems
• Global career growth and exposure across Operations, Science, and Engineering
• A collaborative environment where bold thinking is encouraged

• Influence and lead enterprise‑wide risk reduction by partnering across Operations, Commercial, and R&D to eliminate hazards and apply the hierarchy of controls to high‑risk activities.
• Drive global process safety excellence by setting standards, embedding best practices, and continuously improving frameworks for high‑hazard work and management of change (MOC).
• Champion innovation and digital advancement by deploying data‑driven insights and emerging technologies to strengthen process safety and decision‑making.
• Build and leverage influential networks internally and externally to accelerate adoption of technical solutions and elevate industry‑leading practices.
• Strengthen safety culture and performance by challenging normalization of deviation, promoting psychological safety, and enabling transparent, blameless reporting and learning.
• Deliver assurance, capability, and continuous improvement through KPIs, incident investigation leadership, audit support, competency development, and integration of safety‑by‑design and emergency preparedness.

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, or related field, or equivalent senior‑level Process Safety experience.
• 8+ years of senior SHE leadership experience with proven global scope and achievement in high‑hazard environments.
• Deep expertise in Process Safety and major hazards legislation, with advanced understanding of PHA, LOPA, Bowtie, and hazardous area classification to lead global technical governance.
• Practical knowledge of hazardous area classification…